[FVG]: Game play discussion

[Mike Ciance]

well, here are some other things to consider:

• do we want car drive, tank drive, or the actual drive for each individual robot?
• do we want fixed or relative control? (relative is a must if we have any sort of side-angle. fixed can only work if you are viewing the field from the middle of a player station. i would not suggest fixed control, but some like it. i believe one team actually programmed it into their robot. maybe a toggle option is best?

ideas for speed system:

• maybe we could have a keyboard 2-speed system. the default speed would be a medium one, easy to maneuver, and by holding a certain key, the robot would go full speed. if you've ever played Super Mario World, this is the same idea.
• another set of ideas, two ways i've devised that ALL drive would be operated by the mouse
  • we have a large circle in one corner of the screen. the position of the mouse in the circle would act like the position of an analog joystick. this would only work for car drive.
  • another idea, very radical, and perhaps too hard to ever be able to program, but here it goes anyway. this system would actually have the ENTIRE ROBOT run by the mouse alone. sounds impossible, but here's how it works. the mouse is placed at a position on the field by the user. the position is read and the robot drives in the direction of that point. to pick up a ball, gram a goal, grab the bar, etc. the player would move the mouse over the object, it would flash when the robot is close enough to preform the action, the player would click on it, and the robot would perform the action. to rotate the robot in place, players would click the left or right mouse buttons on the robot itself. no keyboard buttons would be used, except to pause - a 100% point and click game.